Louisiana Bans... Cash Transactions, In the Sale of Second-Hand goods

House bill 195 basically says those who buy and sell second hand goods cannot use cash to make those transactions, and it flew so far under the radar most businesses don't even know about it.

"We're gonna lose a lot of business," says Danny Guidry, who owns the Pioneer Trading Post in Lafayette. He deals in buying and selling unique second hand items.

"We don't want this cash transaction to be taken away from us. It's an everyday transaction," Guidry explains.

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The law states those who buy or sell second hand goods are prohibited from using cash. State representative Rickey Hardy co-authored the bill.

Hardy says, "they give a check or a cashiers money order, or electronic one of those three mechanisms is used."

Hardy says the bill is targeted at criminals who steal anything from copper to televisions, and sell them for a quick buck. Having a paper trail will make it easier for law enforcement.

"It's a mechanism to be used so the police department has something to go on and have a lead," explains Hardy.

Here's the thing: The State could pass a lot of laws to make sure the police always "have a lead" when there is a crime. The State could, if it were permitted to do so, make virtually everything an onerous task involving a digital trail.

Hey, why not mandate that all cars have a chip in them that reports, in real time, the vehicle's position to a central police computer? That would make it easier for the State to prove a case in some situations.

They don't see the problem here? Perfect law enforcement is not the end-goal of the State. Guaranteeing freedom is. And yes, that means that some laws you could possibly pass to make it easier to lock up criminals can't be passed, because you can't burden a thousand people and reduce their liberty to make sure you have a better criminal case against one thief.

This is also a frightening trend which is accelerating in America. Is it too hard to effectively prosecute the law against some real criminal behaviors? Well, okay, we've got a fix for that! We'll just outlaw all the non-criminal behavior which may be used, occasionally, in furtherance of the criminal behavior we're actually trying to stop. Now any criminal will be walking a legal minefield even trying to carry out the most basic formerly non-criminal functions necessary to complete his crime!

Uh, yes, and everyone else too.

ScottJ. sent this tip. Another person in the email chain, GregD., noted this quote attributed to Hitler.

"It is convenient to have a system of laws where everyone is a criminal."